The brewers at the Goose Island Clybourn brewpub embrace experimentation, and they take on their riskiest one yet when they invite Ryan and Craig into the brewhouse to record. Brewmaster Nick Barron and brewers Jacob Sembrano and Jon Naghski share five of their incredible one-off beers and the inspiration, experimentation, and technique that went into each of them. They’ll also discuss their farmer’s market series, upcoming releases and FOBAB goodies, the world’s most obscure Simpsons reference (seriously), and what it’s like to make bourbon barrel-aged beers in the location where it all began. Pull up a stool, and remember to tip your bartender.

Founders Brewing Company has been influencing the way Midwesterners drink for almost two decades, so we show our appreciation by drinking their beers to excess. We review eight diverse 12-ounce offerings from the Grand Rapids brewery, only pausing briefly to play a little Founding Fathers trivia. Well, actually, the beers are so good that we get obscenely inebriated and talk about Craig’s DJ name, fond Breakfast Stout memories, getting Hop Fades™ for FoBAB, and who’d win in a fight between us. It’s that kind of show, folks!

We have five beers new to bottles from Chicago-area breweries and find that you don’t need a lot of experience to impress us. Five unique styles are up for our review, and we unsurprisingly get hammered in the process. There’s a few GABF remnants, Ryan consults his Urban Dictionary, and Craig talks about Mega Man for a while. Trust us - you won’t even need to use a continue.

After three straight days of drinking at the Great American Beer Festival, we open a few beers in the hotel and play back a bunch of interviews with brewers that all won gold medals (in our hearts.) You’ll hear interviews with brewers from Yazoo, Wicked Weed, Comrade, Almanac, Transient, River Dog, The Rare Barrel, and Melvin. There’s also a brief appearance by a well-lubricated Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head. We sift through our memory of the hundreds of beers we tried and deliver our top experiences, but we cover many other aspects of the fest as well. Craig recaps his What The Funk?!? experience, and Ryan makes fun of our terrible drunken interview questions. Wu! Tang! Wu! Tang!

We try to have the most sincere show in hopes of a visit from The Great Pumpkin Beer, as we try 8 of them. Kim Leshinski of Hail to the Ale and Chicago Beer Gals is our guest. As a BJCP Judge and a homebrewer, she carves up some serious knowledge on the intricacies of the style and drops in a candle on what Chicago breweries have to offer. Kim also talks about her many beer-centric endeavors including her experience working on the branding for Alarmist Brewing and what it was like to collaborate on a shark-themed saison with Lake Effect. We also learn that Craig got kicked out of an all-female craft beer event. Good grief.